Deep Space 1 and ion engines

[Peter B]

Can anyone tell me what sort of acceleration DS1 got with its ion engine?

I was reading a story in which extended free fall was problematic to plant growth, and wondered whether the (presumably) feather acceleration generated by an ion engine would provide sufficient artificial gravity to help the poor little plants work out which way was up.

[Azpod]

On 2002-03-13 23:31, Peter B wrote:
Can anyone tell me what sort of acceleration DS1 got with its ion engine?

I was reading a story in which extended free fall was problematic to plant growth, and wondered whether the (presumably) feather acceleration generated by an ion engine would provide sufficient artificial gravity to help the poor little plants work out which way was up.

From heard, it was about the same force as would be applied to your hand by two peices of paper. Compared to the mass of DS1, that's not much acceleration.

Why wouldn't one grow plants in a spinning hyroponic bay...? That would create ample artificial gravity for the planets to tell which way is "up."

[ToSeek]

On 2002-03-13 23:31, Peter B wrote:
Can anyone tell me what sort of acceleration DS1 got with its ion engine?

about 20/1000 of a pound

Ion propulsion FAQ - It's capable of changing the speed of DS1 by 10,000 mph, but in order to do so it would have to operate continuously for about 20 months.